Rub-a-Dub-Dub

If you read my last entry you know that I did some hand washing recently. And if you know me, you are probably shocked. Because I rarely clean anything. I'm too lazy busy. It's all about priorities.

But, with serious plans for Claudia Hand Painted yarn, and my Cherry Bomb Tank Top in desperate need of washing, I decided to take drastic action.

The first order of business was to clean my bathroom sink. Keep in mind I've only been in this apartment for about 2 months and I'm still moving in.

Before:



After:



That was step one. The next step was to find the sample bottle of Kookaburra Woolwash I had picked up at some point. So I looked...

And I looked...

And I looked...

And I was about to give up when I found it.

I was a bit concerned about using "wool" wash on a top made out of a 100% cotton (Katia Jamaica). After some looking, I discovered that Kookaburra has lanolin in it, which didn't sound like a very good idea for cotton. I finally decided to skip the tank top and just wash my swatch.

The directions said about 1 teaspoon per gallon. Does that look about right?

I ended up adding a little more. It didn't feel very soapy. But I read suds doesn't necessarily equal clean.









I swished it once or twice in the water and let it soak. No bleeding, which is good for hand painted yarn. I soaked it in rinse water a couple of times and dried overnight.

So now I stuck wondering what to do about my tank. I was surprised that Amy Singer didn't go into more depth on washing cotton in No Sheep For You. However, she does stress the importance of swatching and washing swatches. Before you commit to a sweater. Someone online also recommended the swatch. *sigh* Am I going to have to post-swatch? The good news is that I have almost an entire skein of the yarn leftover. The bad news is I'm going to have to waste use it on a swatch after I finished the sweater.

The other bad news: at least one other person online told me that Katia Jamaica bleeds.

Well, I bought some lavender baby shampoo, and it looks like I'll be swatching some more. We'll see what happened.

(Added bonus: Eucalan offers free wool wash samples when you send a self-addressed, stamped envelope.)